Summary

This operational audit for the period July 1, 2004, through June 30, 2005, and selected transactions through March 31, 2006, disclosed the following:

Finding No. 1:         The District should enhance procedures to ensure that school advisory councils’ memberships are representative of the ethnic and racial communities served by the schools.

Finding No. 2:        Educational Enhancement Trust Fund (lottery) moneys allocated to several individual school advisory councils should be expended in a more timely manner.

Finding No. 3:        The District’s employee health self-insurance fund has net assets of approximately $9,330,000 at June, 30, 2005, which, because the District no longer self-insures its employees’ health, should be returned to, or otherwise used by, the funds (including Federal programs) that contributed to this fund.

Finding No. 4:        Improvements were needed in the internal controls over cash collections and fee allocations at the Trade Extension School.

Finding No. 5:        Our tests indicated that authorization of record for overtime worked by several District employees was granted up to several weeks after the work was actually performed, contrary to the instructions on the District forms used for such authorizations.  Also, substantial amounts of overtime were paid to individual employees and overtime expenditures for the District increased significantly during the 2004-05 fiscal year indicating that District procedures regarding overtime should be reviewed.

Finding No. 6:        Improvements were needed in procedures for timely obtaining fingerprints and background checks for staff that have direct contact with students.

Finding No. 7:        Improvements were needed in the District’s timely resolution of various payroll deduction and withholding account transactions.

Finding No. 8:        Improvements were needed in the timeliness of corrective actions for serious safety deficiencies noted in the District’s annual facilities inspection reports.

Finding No. 9:        Change orders issued on the District’s construction contracts were not submitted to the Board and entered into the official minutes although required by Section 1013.48, Florida Statutes, and Board policy.

Finding No. 10:      The District’s Strategic Plan, generally, did not contain cost estimates for its goals and action steps to be completed in future years to serve as a guide in developing budgets and in making spending decisions.

Finding No. 11:      Procedural enhancements should be made in the District’s monitoring of its charter schools to ensure that the schools provide the insurance coverages required by the contracts.

The Superintendent's written response to the audit findings is included as part of this report on the Auditor General’s Web site.